Posted on: 11 March 2022
What else has been happening this week?
People plan
Our Partnership has launched a new ‘People Plan’ to support, develop, recruit, and retain health and care staff across the area.
We work across many different organisations in the health and care sector, including the NHS, councils, care providers, hospices, Healthwatch, voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) and through the estimated 400,000 unpaid carers who are all part of a diverse, and valued workforce. Developed with colleagues from different health and care sectors, with their views at the heart of it, the plan is for them all.
The plan focuses on ensuring we have more staff, working differently in a compassionate culture. It also addresses the impact of COVID-19 on staff, volunteers, and carers, ensuring more support is available to support the wellbeing of everyone.
It considers how together we will address the 6,500 vacancies across health and care. Crucially, it aims to ensure that there are good jobs for people in West Yorkshire, recognising the health and care sector spends a substantial majority of its £5billion budget on staff. There are careers in clinical and non-clinical disciplines and WY HCP expect to target recruitment in poorer communities.
The new plan builds on progress made since the publication of ‘A healthy place to live, a great place to work’ in 2018. This includes the recruitment of 341 nursing associates, 1,400 apprenticeships, new mental health roles such as peer support workers and mental health staff in primary care, for example GP surgeries. More than £1.5million funding for workforce development above the continuing professional development funding to facilitate upskilling and implementing new ways of working has also been given.
Since 2018, there has been a 25% growth in the medical and dental workforce (including training roles) across West Yorkshire from 2,782 whole-time equivalents to 3,215 (excluding training grades) as well as an 8% growth in the nursing and midwifery workforce from 14,257 to 15,418 and a 15% growth in allied health professionals (AHPs) from 5,038 to 5,797 whole time equivalents (WTE). There has also been 2% growth in GPs from 1,187 to 1,216. The adult social care workforce (source: Skills for Care Data) shows that from 55,000 jobs in 2018/2019, there are now 58,000 in 2020/2021. This does not include vacancies. In 2022 our growth plans include additional recruitment of 1,500 nurses, 560 AHPs and 2,500 clinical support staff (WTEs).
The plan also builds on support for carers across the pandemic, with numbers increasing to approximately 400,000 (many don’t access formal support). Estimates suggest that carers across West Yorkshire save the economy £7.7billion per year, an average of £19,000 per carer (Carers UK). As a Partnership we are working hard to ensure carers are supported in the workplace. Working carers' passports create a flexible working agreement between them and their manager to support them to continue balancing work and caring responsibilities.
Growing the workforce will require better support in workforce role development and workforce planning. Other work includes the Health and Care Workforce Observatory in development with Yorkshire Universities as part of a support and recruitment package.
You can read the plan on our Workforce website at workforce.wypartnership.co.uk/
International Women’s Day
Our partnership celebrated International Women’s Day on Tuesday. The theme of the day was #BreakTheBias and was an opportunity for colleagues to stand together for equality recognising the intense pressure many women are currently facing and the intersectionality between gender, race as well as other protected characteristics.
Cathy Elliott, Designate Chair of our Integrated Care Board, Mel Pickup, CEO for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Bradford and District Accountable Officer / Place-based Lead, Selina Ullah, Trust Chair of Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Sam Allen, CEO-Designate at North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System and Rob Webster, our CEO-Designate for the Partnership formed the panel. Thank you to Fatima Khan-Shah, Associate Director for our Partnership’s Unpaid Carers and Personalised Care Programme for bringing everyone together.
Inspiring Women Inspiring Women
Inspiring Women Inspiring Women is a collection of real stories from real women (from our partnership). The book, the first in a series, features first-hand accounts from incredible, powerful, and strong women who have agreed to share the turning points that shaped their lives. This book honours and shares the stories of some amazing women who have experienced so much, so that those reading the stories can realise that we are, despite our background, experiences, and upbringing, travelling the same roads.
We want future generations of women to be inspired by these remarkable role models so we can see that whatever faces us, we can lean into it together with the wholehearted support of other women in our corner. Inspiring Women Inspiring Women is dedicated to those women who came before us, and those who will come after us. All proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the Malala Fund, a charity working for a world where every girl can learn and lead. You can purchase the book at peopleandodpartners.com
Menopause support
In this week of International Women’s Day, we have been promoting our range of support for menopause, including our new podcast and online support and information sessions. Find out more and book onto sessions on our Let’s talk menopause section on the Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub website. There are resources for women and for line managers - women make up 77 per cent of the 1.3 million people in the NHS workforce alone, so it’s likely that there will be someone in this age group affected by menopause in your team. For more information about support for menopause, contact Rachel.
Young Carers Action Day
We are proud to be supporting Young Carers Action Day 2022 (16 March), to raise awareness of young carers and the incredible contribution they make to their families and local communities across our district. Young Carers Action Day is an annual event led by Carers Trust. It raises awareness and calls for action to increase support for young people with caring responsibilities across the country.
The theme for 2022 is about taking action on isolation and ensuring that all young carers get the support and access to services they need to live full and varied lives alongside their caring roles.
A young carer doesn’t have to be a teenager, and many are much younger. But all are involved in helping to look after a family member with disabilities, long-term illness, mental health concerns, or battling with addiction. We know many young carers often don’t see or call themselves a carer, which means they can go unseen and miss out on the support that is available.
People can showcase their support for young carers and participate in Young Carers Action Day by accessing the materials on the Young carers action day 2022 page.
National social prescribing day
On Thursday, we recognised the annual celebration of social prescribing, highlighting local community groups and projects which help keep our communities healthy throughout the pandemic and beyond.
Social prescribing is a way for health and care professionals to refer people to a link worker. Link workers give people time, focusing on ‘what matters to me’ and taking a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing. They connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support. Link workers also support existing community groups to be accessible and sustainable, and help people to start new groups, working collaboratively with all local partners.
Social prescribing works for a wide range of people including people with one or more long term conditions, who need support with their mental health, who are lonely or isolated, or people who have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing. Through local community-based activity, including green social prescribing which connects people to nature, we are able to reduce social isolation, reduce anxiety levels, improve physical fitness, and aid weight loss, along with many more benefits.
TytoCare remote monitoring now live in Kirklees care homes
The TytoCare digital health remote monitoring solution is now live in the first care home in Kirklees. The Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, on behalf of NHS England, is working closely with colleagues at Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group and Kirklees Council to implement the TytoCare device into care homes in the region.
Digital remote monitoring helps to improve the process of communicating important health and wellbeing information about care home residents. That helps to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions, allowing for more residents to be cared for in their own, familiar environments. Care home staff can use the secure portal to refer patient details to a GP who can review, triage, and refer the resident appropriately and effectively.
This is an excellent achievement for Kirklees, and we are keen to see this progress across the region. More information on the TytoCare projects can be found on the AHSN website.
NHS Low Calorie Diet Programme open for referrals from 1 March
Following a packed first event on 2 March, we are holding two more one-hour training events on 24 March and 12 April to enable healthcare professionals to make referrals to the NHS Low Calorie Diet Programme being piloted in West Yorkshire.
The NHS Low Calorie Diet Programme is an innovative and free one year programme which aims to support healthier lifestyles, weight loss, and remission of type 2 diabetes. It will run for two years and is limited to 500 patients across West Yorkshire. GP practices across the region can now make referrals to the programme.
The events are aimed at GPs, nurses, practice diabetes leads and medicine management colleagues across West Yorkshire. We also encourage dieticians and anyone who does medication reviews to book onto one of the sessions. Here’s a recording of the first training session and a video of Dr Waqas Tahir, the Partnership’s Clinical Diabetes Lead describing the referral process.
Almost 100,000 signed up to NHS Digital Weight Management Programme
Friday, 4 March 2022, marked World Obesity Day – a day to raise awareness of the risks of excess weight and support conversations on how people living with obesity can manage their weight.
Almost 100,000 people, including NHS staff, have signed up to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme so far and taken the first step to achieve and maintain a healthier weight. NHS staff living with obesity can sign up to the free 12-week programme, without having to be referred by a GP or pharmacist. The programme offers dietary advice, physical activity guidance and support. See the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme pages for more information.
West Yorkshire helps thousands of people with diabetes to test for ‘silent killer’
Thousands of people living with diabetes across West Yorkshire are using pioneering new technology available via the NHS to test for chronic kidney disease at home, without needing to visit their GP practice, thanks to an app which turns an ordinary smartphone camera into a clinical-grade medical device. The Minuteful Kidney test – created by healthtech company Healthy.io – enables home-based urine testing, which is critical for picking up early signs of chronic kidney disease, a complication of diabetes dubbed ‘the silent killer’, which affects around 1.8 million people in the UK.
Since being rolled out by the Partnership last year, over 11,600 people with diabetes have used the Minuteful Kidney test. These tests taken to date have the potential to detect almost 1,500 additional cases of chronic kidney disease that would otherwise have gone undetected, while enabling the local NHS to potentially save £8.6 million over the next five years. See the news pages on the Partnership’s website for more info.
NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme - direct to consumer self-referral pathway
It has been agreed that people at risk of type 2 diabetes can continue to self-refer to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) in the short-term to support with system recovery. The national NDPP team is working to clinically enhance the pathway to help improve assessment of an individual’s risk of type 2 diabetes. This includes identifying those who may have progressed to type 2 diabetes and who need a different care pathway to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.
We asked John to keep a video diary of his journey on the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. In part 6, John is seven months into the nine-month programme and reflects on the last session which covered cooking, eating out, shopping, and embedding good habits into your everyday life to prevent diabetes. You can find out what makes it to the ‘pantry royalty’ list too.
Every Sleep a Safe Sleep – call to join our pilot
The sudden and unexpected death of an infant (SUDI) is one of the most devastating tragedies that can happen to any family. At least 300 infants still die suddenly and unexpectedly each year in England and Wales. We have seen a sharp increase in the number of infants who have died because of unsafe sleep practices over recent years. As part of the local maternity system public health recommendations, it was also recognised that much can be done before, during and after pregnancy to support women and their babies.
This week more than 200 people registered for our webinar, where we discussed the development of specific guidance and tools related to this topic. We are now looking for 30 organisations to join us as part of our West Yorkshire-wide Every Sleep a Safe Sleep pilot. To register your interest please email emmerline.irving@nhs.net.
We will be contacting all those who have been successful in joining the pilot during the week beginning 28 March. Once the pilot has taken place, we will evaluate it. We aim to share final resources this autumn.
Celebrating our cancer clinical nurse specialists
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance and its partners are supporting a social media campaign to mark the first #NationalCancerCNSDay on Tuesday 15 March. The campaign will run across all Cancer Alliance social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram (details below). The concept was originally developed by Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance to celebrate the crucial role of the CNS in cancer care and to support recruitment and retention for this specific workforce. Other Cancer Alliances have been invited to support the campaign using the hashtag #NationalCancerCNSDay, with an opportunity to develop a localised approach and messaging to target specific objectives in each area. Endorsement is also being provided by Health Education England; cancer charity Macmillan; the Royal College of Nursing and the UK Oncology Nursing Society.
The campaign provides an opportunity to:
- Raise awareness of the role of the Clinical Nurse Specialist in cancer care
- Share examples of the work they do and the difference they make
- Recognise and celebrate individuals and the teams within which they work
- Provide the patient perspective – with individuals sharing their own experience of their CNS
- Provide information about CNS employment, training and development opportunities
The focus of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate campaign will be on real people. For example:
- CNSs who are working and training in West Yorkshire and Harrogate, the reasons they made the career choice; their journey so far; their achievements; the passion for their work
- Other health professionals whose roles are enhanced by CNS colleagues
- People affected by cancer, their family and friends, with real life experience of the support provided by their CNS
Oversight of the campaign will be provided by West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance Workforce Lead, Rachel Moser, with implementation managed by Tracy Holmes, Communications and Engagement Lead. The content of the communications plan is being developed and delivered in conjunction with the communications/social media managers of partner organisations, Trust nursing teams and members of the Cancer Alliance community/patient panel.
Colleagues can support the campaign on Facebook @WYHCancerAlliance, on Twitter @WYHCancAlliance, on LinkedIn West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance and on Instagram canceralliancewyh
For more information, contact tracy.
Smokers in West Yorkshire encouraged to give quitting another go
Wednesday 9 March marked No Smoking Day where we encouraged smokers in West Yorkshire to give quitting another go. A new smoking cessation referral from hospital to community pharmacy also launched across the country on 10 March. This new service sees hospitals and community pharmacy teams working together to provide continuation of support to people who want to stop smoking. Visit the NHS better health quit smoking pages to access the latest quitting aids, apps, information, one-to-one advice, and local support.
Our Partnership also signed the NHS Smoke Free Pledge this week.
New stroke pathway
Harnessing the Power of Communities (HPoC), a programme within West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, is supporting the development of a range of health and care pathways which use co-design principles to strengthen the personalised and community care and social prescribing agendas.
A priority group emerging from these discussions - which have included stroke survivors - was working aged men and women, and their adaptation post-stroke to resuming and adapting their lives in relation to employment, social engagement, leisure activities.
Supported by Health Education England, HPoC have partnered with the New Citizenship Project, to pilot a way of co-producing a set of new recommendations for the non-clinical stroke pathway. We then plan to work this approach into a full pilot, which could have applicability and learnings for other teams and groups within the region.
The first workshop session will involve sharing experiences of stroke from all affected, working together as a group to make sense of those stories, turning them into a set of principles for the future. In the second session we will explore the specific elements of the pathway that we could try and build, or change based on those principles. It is important we involve NHS clinicians and managers alongside patients, carers, and people from a range of other supporting organisations, to ensure the pathway speaks to all elements of the experience.
We are looking for people to join the workshops. Have you experienced stroke or supported someone who has? If so, you are invited to join our upcoming online workshops. There are two sessions (you will need to attend both) taking place on 23 March & 6 April, 5-7pm. Attendees will receive 2x £20 Amazon vouchers. To register or for more information contact: nicola.
Second Adversity, Trauma and Resilience Annual Knowledge Exchange
In partnership with the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, we will hold our second Adversity, Trauma and Resilience Annual Knowledge Exchange from Tuesday 26 April to Thursday 28 April 2022 between 9.30am to 4.30pm. This virtual event will bring partners together to explore progress to date, share evidence and best practice.
The event is open to everyone, including all colleagues working across the Partnership. More details coming soon. In the meantime, please put the dates in your diary, and to register an interest in this event please contact Emm Irving at emmerline.